Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies by Laura Stampler

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: July 2016
Genre: young adult, contemporary
ISBN: 9781481459891
Rating: ★★★

Harper Anderson always believed she belonged somewhere more glamorous than her sleepy Northern California suburb. After all, how many water polo matches and lame parties in Bobby McKittrick’s backyard can one girl take? That’s why Harper is beyond ecstatic when she lands her dream internship as a dating blogger at the elite teen magazine Shift. Getting to spend the summer in New York City to live her dream of becoming a writer? Harper’s totally in.

There’s just one teeny, tiny, infinitesimal problem: apart from some dance floor make-outs, Harper doesn’t have a lot of—or, really, any—dating expertise. In fact, she might have sort of stolen her best friend’s experiences as her own on her Shift application. But she can learn on the job…right?

From awkward run-ins with the cute neighborhood dog walker to terrifying encounters with her crazed editor, from Brooklyn gallery openings to weekends in the Hamptons, Harper finds out what it takes to make it in the Big City—and as the writer of her own destiny.

Harper’s dream is to become a journalist, and the best pie-in-the-sky opportunity is a summer internship with Shift, an elite teen magazine. Any girl in late high school or college who interns there is guaranteed a job in the industry come graduation. But that internship is truly pie-in-the-sky — until it’s not. Harper’s wishful thinking turns into a dream come true when the editor calls her up and gives her three days to pack her bags and fly to New York. The thing is, though, Harper can’t tell the editor or any of the glamorous interns that she knows nothing about the topic she’s assigned: dating. But what’s one little white lie here and there, anyway?

The Devil Wears Prada meets Gossip Girl in this laugh-out-loud, feel-good, at times ridiculous novel. All sense of this novel being rooted in reality goes out the window right from the beginning: Harper conveniently has a crazy and lovable “aunt” (an old college roommate of her mother’s) who lives right next to Central Park and has all the money in the world for Harper to utilize during her 6-week internship. Lodging and money for NYC, INSTANT CHECK!

But the hilarity begins the second Harper walks into Shift. High stress, high heels, and high rise in this environment, and every intern is competing for the Young Journalist to Watch spread in the September issue, as well as a story on the Leader Board. That Leader Board is vicious, tracking the top ten stories on the magazine’s website based on the number of clicks. The editor’s number one goal is to crank out as many stories as possible, to gain click momentum, and get viral.

Harper’s feeling the heat, because the summer dating blogger is supposed to attract interest — and who wants to read a dating blog by someone who (1) has no dating experience and (2) doesn’t really, well, date? Harper gets creative, utilizing help from her best friend’s experiences, the adorable dog walker in her aunt’s building, and observations from her fellow interns. One story goes a bit too far, though, and Harper’s morals and values are on the line.

Fun, funny, and just plain good brain candy to get you out of a reading slump!

This qualifies as book 4 of 5 library books in 2017.